IT HELPED AT THE TIME
Today I visited the graves of my parents
flowers for my mother
tobacco for my father
and chocolate for the orphan boy
He had a stomach ache later
but it sure helped at the time
Tag Archives: Grief
IN GRATITUDE FOR YOUR LIFE ODE
IN GRATITUDE FOR YOUR LIFE ODE
In memory of Dr. Marvin Kimbrough PhD
Ah Doctor Marvin, you were class in a glass
the glass is broken – class spilt everywhere
I want to believe that all is well and
all your ripples spreading forever
a part of God’s most perfect plan
and yet I also want to say
I stepped on a splinter again today
BURYING THE POET
BURYING THE POET
The great poet died so suddenly
her student thought that she
would surely die as well
At the funeral she fell quickly
and deeply in love
with the poet’s tall
young son
Took him back to the hotel
her wound open, his
mother’s life
entering
MY UNCLE SHOT MY DOG
MY UNCLE SHOT MY DOG
My uncle shot my dog
My ever loving, ever loyal
saved me from the coyotes
went back to the ranch to
lead my parents to me
stuck in the mud – just
like in the movies –
Lassie dog
My uncle shot my dog
Maybe she had took to bitin’ people
if she did, I’m sure they had it coming
Maybe she’d got to eatin’ the chickens
if she did, she’d earned every one
Maybe she was old and sick and hurtin’
maybe she was better off dead
than alive
I don’t remember anyone saying that
but I doubt it would’ve helped
Not when it’s your best friend
and you’re five
My uncle shot my dog
My uncle shot my dog
and went to his grave
unforgiven
Maybe I can get it done
before I go to mine
FOR JEANNE
FOR JEANNE
It is April twentieth
two thousand and eight
Jeanne Guthrie died today
or stepped on a rainbow
as Kinky would say
The e-mail said
they took her off life support
Hell, she was life support
as everyone who knew her knew
for all family, friends, poets
and strays of every cry and hue
Yes, I loved her, as so many loved her
Texas sized heart and humor too
And must admit I loved
how much she loved
one line of my poetry
It is the line in “Winter in The Barn”
where; Kittens wait by a tin plate
to put their morning moustache on
She said it was her favourite line
in this whole wide world
I wonder if she will take it
with her into the next
Or will it remain in the book
Just another book
in a big box of books
packed off to Goodwill
The milk drying
THE WIDOW
THE WIDOW
After the news from the war
The lady in the dream
pulls her dead
husbands bed
closer
Gathers the bulky covers
to her embrace
And says…
I’m all fixed out in frame
I’ve built these useless stairs
it seems I’ll need them again
MILKY WAY
MILKY WAY
Her breast withdrawn
I walk face down in darkness
Milky way above
FAMILY TREE
FAMILY TREE
My father took the roots into the ground
And the tree of my mother
began to fall
An oxygen hose tethered her some
a forest of family and friends
slowed the fall
She tore off some leaves
as she fell
GONE IS GONE
GONE IS GONE
A just war, an unjust war, or just war
A midnight arm, flung
across an unmade bed
Half empty or half full
THE UNVEILING
THE UNVEILING
On the first anniversary of my mother’s death
I find myself in the middle of New Mexico
the day late, and a prayer short
I stop my Catholic nun friend, now
married and converted Jewish
and tell her of my plight
Also the hope that she
or her husband might have
some words to fit the occasion
The answer is yes, the word is Kaddish
and they are meeting with the Rabbi
to arrange the Friday Shabat supper
Myself, Dorsey, Paul, Maryrita and Dan
now five, the number of her children
sit in circle in the hotel lobby
Paul is a new Rabbi and a very sweet man
he forgets some of the words, Dan helps
I say “her Hebrew isn’t that good,
I don’t think she’ll mind”
I am touched that the prayer is of praise
and not of mourning, and the idea
that whatever good I might do,
my brothers and sisters too,
are her gifts to the world
This may be a poem about salt
there is something about salt
and her gift from our eyes
as we share